


don’t tell me not to fly (I’ve simply got to)

by DuendeJunior



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Born to Shine: A Yuuri Katsuki Zine, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 01:30:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15132113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuendeJunior/pseuds/DuendeJunior
Summary: "After all, wasn’t that the Olympic motto? Faster, Higher, Stronger?"or, three moments in Yuuri's life during the next skating season.





	don’t tell me not to fly (I’ve simply got to)

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Yuuri-centric zine [Born to Shine](https://yuurizine.tumblr.com/) ([on Twitter](https://twitter.com/yuurizine)). It was a pleasure to contribute to the project and I reccomend you read all the other works that have been posted. And thank you Isabela [hellodeer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellodeer) (read her works too, they're LOVELY) and Isabella for the beta work.

Yuuri waits until the gentle sunlight wakes Victor up to place his laptop over Victor’s lap and show him his selection of songs for next season's free program. Maybe he could wait a bit more, until they're both up and running, but that's just the kind of thing Yuuri does after pulling an all-nighter. This is one of the moments where he's thankful Victor is quick to wake up in the morning.

"Good morning kiss?" Victor asks before taking the earphones from Yuuri's hands, and Yuuri is glad to comply.

Victor puts them in and goes through Yuuri's playlist with closed eyes, leaning against the headboard. Yuuri has already decided what he wants for his short program – something with a more traditional Japanese influence and lots of drums; the free program, however, is giving him some pause. The list he's presenting to Victor took hours to be narrowed down to five songs.

"Oh," Victor gasps, his mouth curving on a slight smile. "I didn't know you were considering the marriage song."

It's not how the song is called, of course. Now they know it's a tune by Utada Hikaru, "May I Have This Dance". The melancholic instrumental contrasts and complements the hopeful lyrics, and it was penned for the soundtrack of one of Mari's favorite dramas, where a lawyer gets involved in a complicated case that threatens the safety of her girlfriend.

In his heart, Yuuri knew neither he nor Victor would ever call the song by its proper name the moment the complete version started playing in the last episode while the lead character was getting married to her beloved and he looked to Victor to see tears running down his cheeks.

"I am,” Yuuri says with a chuckle and a light blush.

Victor hums, pleased. His smile only grows bigger when the next song comes up, a Russian cover of something from the Billboard Hot 100 chart that he showed Yuuri months ago. And Yuuri watches him with trust and just a tiny bit of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.

The playlist ends.

Taking off one earphone, Victor opens his eyes to look at Yuuri.

"It's a strong selection," he says. "You could win with any of them." He holds Yuuri's hand, the right one, and presses a kiss to Yuuri's ring. "That being said, I'm very partial to the marriage song."

"I had a feeling that would be the case," Yuuri says. He scoots closer to Victor, taking care not to jostle his computer too much. "Does my coach think there's a gold medal in there?"

"More than one, he reckons," Victor says against his knuckles, eyes never leaving Yuuri's face.

"Even against Victor Nikiforov? I heard he's planning something big for his last season."

Victor's laugh is quiet and pleased.

"Victor Nikiforov is going to love the challenge with all his heart."

-

Those words are alive in Yuuri’s heart when he wins his first gold medal at a Grand Prix Final, beating Victor by a narrow margin. Phichit comes in third. Afterwards, at the banquet, the general sentiment is that the GPF hasn’t been this exciting in a long time.

“Yuuri, you were great,” Phichit tells him while they’re huddled in a table at the corner of the venue, choosing the best pictures to upload to his Instagram (Yuuri’s still impressed at how Phichit managed to convince _Seung-gil_ to pose alongside everyone else. Meanwhile Victor, as always, kept his hand on Yuuri’s shoulder the whole time). In front of them there are glasses of champagne and a tray of finger food Victor got them before going to talk to one of his sponsors. “I think Chris almost stopped breathing when he noticed you were going for a quad Axel.”

“… He’s alright now, I hope?” Yuuri says, searching for Chris among the small crowd on the dance floor. Without the presence of a pole nearby, it’s surprisingly hard to spot him.

“Relax, it got him all excited,” Phichit says, before biting into a croissant. “Hmm, this one is delicious. Anyway, congratulations on surprising all of us again. Everyone thought you’d stick to the quad flip this season.”

 _That’s what I thought, too_ , Yuuri thinks, chewing on a vegetarian hand pie. It’s what he might have done if he hadn’t seen the practice videos where JJ landed successful quad flip after successful quad flip. It didn’t mean JJ would land it in competition, but a switch flipped inside Yuuri nonetheless and the very next day saw him approaching Victor with a "we can fit a quad Axel at the end of my free program, right?"

Besides, there was something very appealing about the idea of making a jump into his own. He got silver at the GPF and gold at the Japanese Nationals, Four Continents and Worlds with Victor's jump (even if in private they both thought of it as _their jump_ ), and now there was someone else planning to add the flip to his roster. To win the GPF and defend his gold at Worlds this season, Yuuri needed to push himself further.

After all, wasn’t that the Olympic motto? _Faster, Higher, Stronger_?

“I hope everybody was satisfied,” Yuuri says. Phichit grins at him and tilts his glass towards Yuuri’s.

“To your boldness,” he says, and they clink the glasses together in a toast. “But now I’m gonna have to reconsider my strategies to beat you. And Victor, I guess, now that he’s back and all that.”

They spot Victor on the other side of the room, and Victor blows Yuuri a kiss over the head of whoever he’s talking to when he notices Yuuri is looking. Yuuri’s smile grows gentler.

"Add a new quad to the second half of your program”, he says to Phichit. “And don't tell Ciao Ciao."

"Yuuri!" Phichit says. "You want him to have my hide, you evil man." His voice is more amused than outraged. Yuuri had watched his new programs with amazement – Phichit’s evolution was clear, his jumps more fluid, his artistry even more refined. Yuuri hopes they can face against each other again at Four Continents later in the season. "And who's going to record my performances for Instagram if I don't tell him?"

“Do you want to add an element of surprise to it or not?”

Phichit looks desolated at that. “I can’t believe your lack of presence on social media is actually _working to your advantage,_ ” he says, and Yuuri almost chokes on his champagne with suppressed laughter.

-

Months later, at an interview with Hisashi Morooka after his short program at Worlds, Yuuri ends up repeating the general sentiment when he's asked about his current penchant for surprising the public.

"Working with Victor also helps,” he says. Victor, who really wanted to be there with him but had an interview of his own to attend at the same time. “He’s always searching for new ways to make the audience go _wow_ ; I guess it rubbed off on me.”

“I see, I see,” Morooka says. “So, Katsuki-kun, right now you’re in second place thanks to an under-rotated quad at the end of your short program. Do you think this might affect your chances overall?”

Yuuri can’t help but hear a hidden _Do you think you might crash again like it happened in the past?_ in that question, even if Morooka might not have intended it. He runs a hand through his hair. “My training this year has been very solid, and I trust the growth I went through since Sochi. I’m sure I can deliver my best performance yet tomorrow.”

Morooka nods at him. He seems very satisfied with the answer.

“We had here with us Katsuki Yuuri, Japan’s Ace and current holder of the World Championships title,” he says to the camera. “Katsuki-kun, any last words to your supporters?”

Yuuri accepts the microphone from Morooka’s hands and takes a deep breath.

“Thank you all for your continued support,” he says. He thinks of Minako and his mother in the bleachers holding posters with his name, of everyone in Hasetsu cheering in the video Mari sent him. He thinks of Phichit and Ciao Ciao, of Yurio and everyone else from St. Petersburg. And he thinks of Victor. “And tomorrow, don’t take your eyes off me.”

( _No one would dream of it_ , Victor tells him when they meet again afterwards.)


End file.
